KOTA BARU – Unfamiliarity with the MySejahtera app has been cited as the reason senior citizens in Kelantan failed to show up for their appointments in the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
State Health Director Datuk Dr Zaini Husin said at his office today that a majority of senior citizens involved in giving feedback on the absence said they missed the appointment notifications as they did not know how to check for notifications via the app.
Dr Zaini said some did not have the MySejahtera app, whereas some cited late notifications, which they should have been received 14 to seven days before the appointment date.
“Besides that, many senior citizens are dependent on their children and, when they receive delayed notifications, it is difficult for their children to arrange their leave to send their parents to vaccination centres on the date of the appointment,” he said, adding there are also those who forgot about their appointments.
Dr Zaini said this in commenting on reports that nearly 10,000 Kelantan folk had failed to show up for their Covid-19 vaccination appointments.
He said most of the absentees had to postpone getting the jabs due to health factors or unforeseen circumstances, adding some senior citizens were also not ready to take the injection due to the spread of fake news on social media on alleged adverse effects of the vaccine.
“Inform in advance either through the MySejahtera hotline or the vaccine centre operations room so that we can slot in other individuals in the same category (senior citizens or high-risk persons) to ensure there is no wastage of vaccine doses,” he said.
On the department’s measures to address the matter, Dr Zaini said he will hold discussions with the state government to set up more vaccination centres, as well as intensify awareness programmes about Covid-19 vaccines statewide.
On whether the number of daily Covid-19 cases in the state would reach four digits, Dr Zaini said he expected the number would increase between 450 and 600 within two weeks if Kelantan folk fail to adhere to standard operating procedures to curb the spread of the virus. – Bernama, May 25, 2021
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